Trash to Treasure {The Dinning Chair Edition}

A couple of months ago my husband and I were yard-sailing with the kids and we happened upon an estate sale.  There was not a ton that we were really interested in buying but the former owner was a collector and had a lot of interesting collections which made for fun browsing.

In the basement I did happen to see a few dinning chairs which did catch my interest.  We have a table and set of 4 chairs in our dinning area that are on loan from my husband’s parents until one day when we save up the money to get a nice set.  We are so blessed to be able to use this dinning set that they have loaned us but having only 4 chairs makes it difficult to have many families over to eat at the table.  Oh trust me, we still have people over and they eat all over but I have been on the lookout for some inexpensive chairs to help us get more people actually around the table.  The chairs at the estate sale were part of a set with a table that they had priced at $10.  The price wasn’t bad but I had no need for the table and the chairs were a little rough so I told the lady I’d asked about the price that I’d pass.  As I was walking out to the car she came running after me and offered me just the pair of “ugly yellow” chairs for $5.

I agreed and I loaded the ugly yellow chairs into the car.  Beneath the ugliness I could see potential.  So here’s what I did:

I took the seats off of the chairs and then cleaned everything very well.  I used some wood glue and a mallet to tighten up some loose joints.  For some reason these are the only before shots I have of the chairs.

Then I primed with Kilz primer that I had leftover from my end table makeover.

I followed up the primer with several light coats of spray paint.  I went with spray paint because it made it easy to hit all the different angles of the chair quickly.  For the two chairs it took 3 cans.

I took the yellow pleather off of the seats and removed the padding as well.  For the new padding and batting I stole from the couch cushions from our old couch.  I then recovered the chairs with the new padding, batting, and fabric.  The fabric is from Joann’s.

To finish I simply reattached the seats to the chairs.

Now we can have more people over to eat in proper chairs!  We won’t have to bring the computer chair from the basement or have someone sit on the ottoman!  Well, except for when we have a large gathering- then it’ll be a free for all and people can sit all over.

Here’s the budget breakdown:

Chairs- $5

Wood glue & primer- $0 (already owned)

paint- $12.75 (3 cans @ $4.25)

1/2 yard of fabric- $6.38

Total cost for 2 chairs- $24.13 ($12.07 per chair)

Not too shabby!  Anyone else have a random assortment of chairs pulled up for dinner parties?  Or wincing each time you pull the trigger on the staple gun while doing upholstery work?

Cat

Cat is a teacher turned stay-at-home mom of two boys.  She shares crafts, DIY projects, kids’ activities, and a little bit about life in Ohio.  Learn more about her and the blog on the About page.